On Friday, Vernal City announced that City water users needed to immediately reduce water use, including the elimination of all outside water use. The announcement made it clear that there is no issue with the quality of water but that the water treatment facility is having difficulty with the water demand and high turbidity. The Central Utah Water Conservancy District offered further explanation and expanded the order to reduce water use for all Municipal water users valley wide. The message from Central Utah Water Conservancy District states that “due to unprecedented runoff and turbidity in both the Ashley Springs and Red Fleet water sources, production of culinary water in the Vernal area has become very challenging and there is an urgent need to conserve water as much as possible. We are asking all Municipal water users valley wide to eliminate outdoor landscaping water usage and minimize unnecessary indoor usage until further notice. Dedicated staff are working around the clock to resolve this issue as soon as possible. We are hopeful this will only be a short-term issue; however, the magnitude of the runoff may necessitate a longer emergency response effort. The limited culinary water being produced is safe and is available at the tap, but it is very important that conservation measures are strictly observed to get us through this crisis.”
